Dragon Racing Fuels Race Report – Budds Creek

Mechanicsville, MD – Budds Creek proved to be disappointing for the Team Dragon Racing Fuels #175 Phil Nicoletti. With solid qualifying times Phil and the Team were excited about the day ahead.

As the gate dropped in the first moto, Nicoletti came off the start in 16th place. Working his way through the 13th spot, Phil battled with Tommy Searle for the 12th position. With confidence building as Nicoletti pushed towards the top ten riders, fate reared up and bit hard. Nicoletti‘s bike experienced a rare clutch problem that forced him out of the moto early. Between moto’s, the team worked hard to get the problem resolved and had his bike ready for the second moto.

In the second moto, Nicoletti lined up in the first gate on the inside and visually drew his line towards the first turn. When the gate dropped, he grabbed a handful of throttle and headed into the corner banging bars with Justin Barcia and Christophe Pourcel for the holeshot. Coming into the turn, Nicoletti was pinched tightly and picked up a piece of the tough block cover in his rear wheel. Unaware of the problem he came out in 12th position. Phil worked his way up and battled with Martin Davalos for the 9th position. Blake Wharton jumped into the battle and it was a three way race for the position at that point. Wharton passed Nicoletti and the chase was on. With Trey Canard now chasing the group, Nicoletti was pushing and riding hard. As Phil was screaming hard down Henry Hill, his rear break became clogged with the piece of a tough block cover he picked up on the first turn and his rear brake failed causing him to go over the bars. Unable to fix the problem on the track he was forced into an early exit from the moto. Nicoletti went (39) (36) giving him a 39th overall.